1. Field
Disclosed herein is an apparatus and method of using the same to protect from damage by the elements plants, including ornamental plants, shrubs, and trees, as well as non-ornamental or crop-bearing shrubs and trees. In particular, the apparatus and method are easily set up and taken down from around the plants, and can therefore be deployed quickly when damaging weather is predicted to be immanent. The apparatus and method disclosed herein are particularly helpful in protecting the plants from damage by ice forming thereon, as well as from damage occurring during hail, snow, sleet, freezing rain, the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current and past housing trends emphasize housing that provides outdoor living space, and the enhanced desirability of these outdoor spaces provided by landscaping. At the same time, in many real estate markets, particularly in urban and suburban areas, housing is developed on smaller lots, resulting in higher housing densities. Often, housing developers and homeowners spend considerably sums of money in landscaping their properties, including a significant amount spent on planting and maintaining ornamental plants, trees, and shrubs. These are provided both to enhance the livability of the outdoor space, providing shade and a visually appealing environment, and to screen housing from adjacent neighboring properties, thereby providing more privacy.
At the same time, apparent changes to climate may be rendering weather increasingly unpredictable, and in some cases, more severe. Weather-related damage to plants, trees and shrubs that are provided as ornamental landscaping and to trees and shrubs that provide fruit and other crops can become extremely expensive, particularly in winter. One particular problem is the damage resulting from ice forming on the plants. Sleet or freezing rain storms, even when followed by thawing, can severely damage ornamental and agricultural trees and shrubs. One source of damage can result from the freezing through of relatively young, thin branches, as they become coated with ice, disrupting the cells of the plant and, in some cases, killing it. Another source of damage results from the increase in weight caused by icing of the plant's branches. This increase in weight can weaken the branches, in some cases causing them to break and fall. These falling, frozen, heavy branches can cause other property damage when they strike objects below them, and can result in permanent damage to the plant. The broken-off branches provide an ingress point for diseases and insects, which can cause further damage to the plant, often necessitating its replacement.
Attempts have been made to provide winterizing systems or apparatus for plants, shrubs, and trees. However, these systems are generally either permanent, or else difficult to put up and take down. In some cases, the systems require the use of some form of heat transfer system that is alleged to remove heat from the ground and provide this heat to the air around the plant. This, however, increases the cost and complexity of the system, and is of dubious utility when the ground around the plant is frozen solid. Other protecting systems are of limited stability, e.g., using a single point of attachment to the ground, or requiring attachment to the plant itself. This limited stability can actually do more harm to the plant, since the protective system is subject to being toppled over in wind, and thus imposes additional stress on the plant by leaning against the plant or pulling the plant towards the ground. In addition, prior systems are not easily adjustable or scalable to expand as the plant grows.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a plant protection apparatus that is not subject to these deficiencies and problems, and that can be easily deployed to protect plants, shrubs, and trees, that does not require any complex or expensive heat transfer apparatus, that is stable, and that is adjustable, and/or modular, to allow for expandability and/or reusability of the modules thereof to protect different plants.